For protection from unintended mechanical and chemical influences, and frequently also for the discharge and distribution of dissipated heat, it is known, in particular in association with chips, to provide these with a screening housing. This housing also offers the advantage that a terminal conductor arrangement extending outwards from the chip terminal surfaces simplifies the implementation of the following connection procedure as, by means of an outwardly fanned configuration of the terminal conductor arrangement of the housing, larger spaces can be provided between the terminal surfaces than is possible with the chip terminal surfaces.
Therefore in the currently widespread surface mounted technology (SMT) it is common practice to accommodate the chip, either alone or together with other electronic components, in a housing made of synthetic resin. In this context it is known to bond the chip onto a frame-like chip carrier and for the complete encapsulation of the chip to fill the chip carrier with a synthetic resin casting compound and enclose the chip therein.
The production of a housing of this type proves costly in practice as, due to the chip carrier's function as frame or form, its design is subject to special requirements. Furthermore the chip, and any other electronic components possibly arranged on the chip carrier, is subject to increased thermal stress when the chip carrier is filled with the synthetic resin casting compound, which not infrequently leads to damage which impairs the function of the electronic component.